Adventure and Photography – Passion for the Outdoors

Alaska – Hiking the Harding Icefield

The Harding Icefield hike in Alaska easily makes our top 3 list of most memorable and wow-factor hikes. The hike starts from the foot of Exit Glacier just outside Seward and takes you to the top of the enormous Harding Icefield. Throughout the entire hike you have splendid views of Exit Glacier to your left. This hike left me amazed and full of gratitude.

First view of the glacier from the trail

Valley views

The hike starts at the Exit Glacier visitor center. You follow the valley floor on a paved path, but soon take off from the paved path and start heading upwards. This part of the hike would have to be characterised as strenuous, the climb is not insignificant as you work you way up towards the tree line. But wow – as you start getting close to the tree line you forget all about it as the views of Exit Glacier is nothing less then spectacular. Also remember to look back when you hike upwards as you have beautiful views of the valley and river leading towards Seward.

Having passed the tree line you have completed the worst part of the climb and you can see the entire arm of Exit Glacier and start comprehending the size of Harding Icefield where Exit Glacier origins. This is an excellent spot for a lunch break. For many with limited time this is the turnaround point, but it is not the end of the trail. If you have set of the whole day for this hike I would highly recommend continuing. Hey – you have already completed the steepest part of the hike anyways.

Try looking for black bears up in the northern slopes. We spotted 3 of them during our lunch break. They were too far away to get any good photos, but as evidence for our observation I present the following photo of a black bear with her cub, can you see them? We did the hike in September and bears were moving to higher ground getting ready for hibernation.

Black bear and cub in the far distance

After lunch we continued on along the glacier for a while before the trail took us over a moonlike area consisting of moraine from the receding icefield. I can definitely imagine some rough weather up here on less nicer days. Ensure you have enough layers of clothing with you for cold and windy days. Towards the end of the moraine you reach an emergency shelter and at this point you are very close to the end of the trail.

Splendid Exit Glacier views

Hiking over moraine

At the end of the trail Harding Icefield reveals itself. There is ice as far as the eye can see. It brings you back in time and you can imagine how things looked like during the earlier ice ages. Of all the spectacular views on this hike this was my absolute favourite.

The enormous size of the icefield is almost impossible to imagine unless you are experiencing it, but I’ll give it a try. If you are looking at the photo below there are 3 persons in the picture. There is me off course, but further down in the background there are two persons who have walked closer to the icefield. They are a bit further to the left in the photo, you can just spot the tiny silhouette of them as they admire the icefield.

If that is not enough I have pulled some stats from Wiki: Harding Icefield is the largest icefield contained entirely within the United States with its 300 square miles / 777 square kms. If you include its 40 glaciers the number increase to 1100 square miles / 2849 square kms. That’s approximate the size of State of Rhode Island.

View over Harding Icefield from end of trail

We could have stayed much longer admiring the icefield, but the day was getting towards the end of the day and we had to start on the return. If you want to stay here overnight camping is allowed as long as you set up camp at least 1/8 mile from the trail on bare rock or snow. Camping in the emergency shelter is not allowed.

Hiking back over the moraine

View from the Top of the Cliffs

The hike back offers lovely views down the valley and I found it just as fulfilling as the hike up. I had been so focused on reaching the end of trail that I hadn’t taken time to look back on the way up, so I got a totally different perspective hiking back.

Hiking stats

Distance: 14,5km

Elevation gain: 960m

Time: 5h25min

Difficulty: Strenuous until you reach the Top of the Cliffs. Easy to Moderate the last stretch.

Thank you so much for you generous comment Jet! Sorry for the poor quality of the bear photos, they were too far away even for a telephoto lens. But at least I have proof that we saw them, which I thought was thrilling. I still smile just thinking about this hike – what a beautiful piece of land Alaska is!

Wow, Inger! We were able to take Diana’s parents there when we went in 2000. Mom was in a wheelchair, and they had a nice trail to the base of Exit Glacier that we took her on. Now we know what lies beyond! This is something we would love to do when we return someday. Thanks for posting!
Jim

If I remember correctly the trail is paved all the way to the bottom of Exit Glacier. Awesome that they have made it so accessible that everyone can experience a piece of the ice age:) I can definitely see that it can be difficult to imagine the size of what lays behind it. Hey – even standing at the top of the trail I had difficulties comprehending the size of this ice field. Alaska is the best! 🙂

Crikey, I’ve been wondering where you two guys had ended since it’d been a while from your last post…and look at that! What a place! I just can’t stop looking at those photos, they are splendid.

I’ve noticed how often September gives great days for hiking and alpinism in the Alps, far better than June, July or August where the occasional storm is always behind the corner. Is it the same over there?

I’ll let you in on a little secret, we were actually in Yellowstone. I am just seriously lagging behind on my posts:) Too much to experience, too little time to write!
Anyways – I agree, late summer / early fall definitely seems to have the most stable weather. The early summer hikes surprised us with snow storms a couple of times here:) hehe… I would loose to do some hiking in the Alps by the way, no matter what season.
Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks a bunch for your sweet comments Sue! I do like taking photos and editing them afterwards:) When I read other hiking blogs I always like it if they have a little ‘fact’ box so I can quickly see if the hike is something for me.

I ache just reading about your hike. It does look very strenuous, but so worth the effort to make that trip. The photos are amazing and like you said, it is hard to imagine the size of the ice field. The bears so far away give some perspective of the massiveness of this place. Great adventure.

Thanks Donna! Sorry about the poor quality of the bear photos but they were really far away. We almost didn’t notice them, they were like tiny black dots. It was not before they moved around a bit we noticed them:)

I will not lie, the first part of the hike was pretty steep, but if you have the whole day there is plenty of time to make it up. And it was so worth it! Pretty spectacular scenery.
Thanks for stopping by!

The colours are incredible, Inger, and what stunning landscapes. Your pictures tell it all! It’s amazing to me that you can be walking along pretty green paths with flowers and have those ice fields as a backdrop and a beautiful sunny sky. Magical! 🙂

Amazing photos and reportage, once again! Your blog has inspired hubby and me to maybe one day travel to Alaska and Canada for some outdoors activities. Well, it’s not a real plan yet, but you’ve definitely put those places on the map for us! 🙂

I’ll let you keep the penny since we can’t spend them in Canada anymore anyway, but I had to tell you that your pictures are spectacular, and as an avid hiker (with the exception of the last 3 years while I’ve been battling a nuisance of a disability) I am absolutely envious of you, as I watch you enjoying that amazing hike. But truthfully, my envy is totally overwhelmed by the appreciation and gratitude I feel toward you for the awe-inspiring photography, that has resulted in this comment taking me 25 minutes to type as I keep going back to look at the pictures one more time. So thanks once again, and you can be certain I will be back this way at every opportunity that I get.

Wow – I am overwhelmed by your generous comment Brian! I am so happy you enjoyed the photos – they can only convey part of the beauty we experiences this day. As said in the post – this was by far one of the most spectacular hikes I have done. Just the magnitude of the glacier and the ice field was mind blowing. I feel very grateful to have experienced it. Hope you will be back on the trails soon! Thank you so much you stopping by and taking the time to comment. You made my day!
All the best, Inger.

Thank you for your sweet comment Jan! The Rockies also offer a spectacular scenery – we have done many of the in Alberta and British Columbia. I’ll have to check out Maroon Belles. I am assuming it is out of the Canadian boarder? I just googles it quickly and WOW what spectacular images! Most of those images was during summer – fall though. Wonder how it looks like during winter?

Thanks Joanne! The rewards was immense on this hike – what a spectacular view. I ma glad it gives you a small incentive – but I’d recommend bringing you camera out for smaller hikes and photo tours to be active instead of the treadmill. That thing is a motivational killer if you ask me, I’ve never been able to do more than 10 minutes on one before I am bored to death:)
Thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment!

So beautiful! I’m so in love with Alaska and waiting to return again. We didn’t hike to Harding ice field, instead we did some ice hiking on Exit glacier. That was super fun and amazing too! Have some pics on my blog.

Inger & Tor

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